


The Return of The Wintertodt

by GnohomasWitness



Category: Runescape (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-08-21
Packaged: 2019-06-30 16:32:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15755556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GnohomasWitness/pseuds/GnohomasWitness
Summary: I wrote this a while ago. I may continue the story after I finish The Sea Troll King. The Kingdom of Kourend has been hit with an early winter, but not just any winter, a terrible and murderous winter not seen in over one thousand years. The concerned citizens gather in Hosidius to discuss the cause.





	The Return of The Wintertodt

Concerned citizens of Kourend filed into the Hosidius beer hall until it was nearly full. The tables were pushed aside to make room for more chairs. Most of the people present were farmers from Hosidius House but a few Lovakengj Dwarves and Piscarilius fishermen could be seen amongst the crowd. Shayzien soldiers lined the walls of the beer hall standing at ease facing the crowd, their black and red balaclavas made them faceless and intimidating.

Winter had come early for the Kingdom of Kourend, ruining the final harvests of the season. Fearful talk of starvation and ancient winter beasts bubbled from the crowd. Not only was it earlier than expected, but the harshness of this winter was turning out to be far worse than any other in living memory. The terrible winds had destroyed buildings and ships leaving many homeless and without food. There had already been reports about some who had frozen to death, mostly in Piscarilius. Everyone was angry and frightened. Endless chatter filled the room with a deafening hum matched only by the sound of the howling winds coming from outside. Large doors to the hall were held wide open by Shayzien guards as they let more people in. The doors were a new feature, it wasn’t supposed to get this cold in the Hosidius district.

Adam “Kananga” Neeson sat in a stool by small table at the back of the hall looking very out of place. On his table was a small cup of tea. Most of the Hosidius farmers payed him no mind as they walked by and into their seats, others nodded in his direction. Kananga had been living in his home on the outskirts of the Hosidius farmland for over a year at that point. Although, he had only gotten to know a handful of the locals personally. Adam’s appearance would often turn many eyes wherever he went. He was large, gruff and brutish in appearance. It came to no surprise for folks to learn of his past as an outlaw, but what made many turn their heads more than anything was the fact that his skin was green. Those he did not know very well, particularly those from other houses gave him strange looks as they passed. Adam was used to such reactions at this point, he just sipped his tea and kept his nose buried in a book he had checked out from the Acreuus library at the start of the winter. It was an historical novel called The Wintertodt Parable. It was a story of a man who died trying to battle a beast of ice and wind that terrorized Kourend one thousand years ago.

Some Shayzien guards helped the last of the attendees find seats. Once the crowd was settled, the guards closed the large makeshift doors of the beer hall. The howling winds quieted down, but the murmur continued. Adam sighed as he felt his teacup, his tea had gotten cold and much of it had spilled over as his small wobbly table rocked from all the commotion.

Adam looked about the crowd for familiar faces. He made eye contact with farmer Gricoller sitting alongside his granddaughters near the back of the room on the other side of the aisle. Gricoller nodded to him. Adam smiled and nodded back. The elderly farmer then pointed his granddaughters Adam’s way. Logava and Golova gave a quick wave and returned their focus to the front of the room. Gricoller’s Zamorakian granddaughter, Bologa, smiled and her eyes lit up as she saw Adam. Bologa blew Adam a kiss and then pretended to lower her top, mimicking the action of flashing him a tit. She winked at him and gave him a dirty smile. Kananga’s jaw dropped. He just stared and blinked at her, his green cheeks went red. The young woman giggled before being scolded by her grandfather. She held her hands in a heart shape before turning back to the front of the room.

Adam could see just the heads of a handful of individuals as they took their own seats at a long table in front of the crowd. They were the councillors of Kourend. People in the crowd began to stand up, shouting incoherent threats and complaints, waving and pointing fingers at the group that sat before them. Some of the Shayzien guards began to bang their swords against their shields.

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the table and a booming voice blasted through the room, silencing the crowd. “Order! Order! The meeting regarding the deadly winter that has befallen us is now in session. We will get to all your concerns but please, all of you, sit down!”

One by one, the people in the crowd sat back down. Adam got a look at the man who shouted. It was an aged man with long hair and a beard, Adam recognised him as Kandur Hosidius, lord of the Hosidius house. At the table with him was an assortment of well dressed individuals, members of the Kourend Council.

Lord Hosidius sat down in his chair at the end of the long table and gestured to a tall, ghostly figure in green robes and a mauve scarf who floated in the corner of the room. It was an Arceuus scholar, but not one whom Adam was familiar with. There seemed to be another spirit beside him but Adam couldn’t get a good look from the back of the crowd. The ghostly wizard floated over to the center of the hall between the crowd and the council. His long robes wisped behind him like a spider web in the wind as he floated. Just like all Arceuus spirits, the scholar’s glowing, inhuman eyes were the only part of his face not obscured by his scarf wrapped tightly around his head. The crowd began to stand up and shout at the spirit, Lord Hosidius banged on the table again and people quieted.

The scholar spoke, “I am Logios of the house Arceuus, an expert on terrible weather events such as this. I shall be acting as mediator today.” The scholar said in the same heartless tone one would expect from the Arceuus.

There was more shouting from the crowd. People began standing up and waving their fingers at the spirit. “We are not going to sit idle and listen to orders from a ghost while we freeze and starve!” One Piscarilius sailor hollered.

Lord Hosidius banged on the table until the crowd settled down. “We shall have order!” He shouted. “Nobody here wants a famine!“

“Thank you, Your Lordship.” Logios said as he nodded politely to Lord Hosidius. The Arceuus scholar turned to the crowd. “As many of you are aware, the kingdom has been hit with a terrible winter that is over a month premature.”

More shouting came from the crowd. Logios paused as he waited for it to die down.

Adam pinched the bridge of his nose, the rumbling in the hall was beginning to give him a headache. What was the council thinking trying to quell the worries of the cold and hungry with the words of an undead spirit who had likely never been hungry for several decades? He finished his tea and looked down at his library book. He read the title in his head _The Wintertodt Parable…_

Logios continued. “My collogues in the Arceuus house and I have been investigating this strange occurrence and have come to the conclusion that this weather phenomenon is indeed unnatural, supernatural in fact!”

There was a cry of horror from a few older members of the audience. Lord Hosidius raised an eyebrow.

“It seems that an old enemy of Great Kourend has regained influence over the weather…” Logios said something after this but was drowned out by more and more shouting from the crowd, he paused until the crowd was quiet. He cleared his throat irritatedly. “As I was saying, we believe that our early winter is the work of the ancient Wintertodt.”

The beer hall erupted with the sound of unintelligible shouting and screaming from everyone in the crowd. Some were terrified cries while others, particularly from the Dwarves of Lovakengj house were furious shouts. Adam could only hear a few of the loudest voices from amongst the sea of noise.

“That’s bloody impossible!” An extremely old dwarf shouted from atop a chair. “The doors of Dihn are impenetrable! You dare insult the work of the greatest smith in the history of this Kingdom?”

“The wood of the Bruma tree burns for eternity!” A woman hollered from a group of lumberjacks from the Woodcutting guild.

“Aye!” The old dwarf shouted back, pointing at the woman while glaring at Logios and the council. “The only way the Wintertodt could escape is if somebody let it out!”

A further roar came from the crowd. Logios gasped and backed up against the council table. The council said nothing but stared accusingly at the spirit.

Suddenly, a flash of blinding green light blasted from the corner of the room accompanied by a sharp cracking sound. It was as if someone had set off a firework indoors. The crowd was silenced.

“Everybody calm down!” A woman’s voice boomed through the hall, echoing as it did so.

Everyone watched as a female Arceuus spirit floated up before the crowd from the corner. She couldn’t have been a scholar, she wasn’t wearing the usual robes. She was instead wearing a thick winter tunic lined with fiery, orange fur and complete with a hood in addition to the usual scarf covering her face except for her green eyes. Her ghostly hands were covered by warm gloves and she wore matching boots. The crowd felt oddly warm as she grew nearer. Her presence was a sharp contrast to your usual Arceuus spirit who would suck the heat and life out of a room rather than fill it.

“I can assure you all, the Wintertodt has not been freed from its prison in the north.” The Arceuus woman said to the crowd. Her voice was elderly but firm. “I made sure of it personally. In addition, if it had escaped, the entire living population would have been dead by now.”

“Yeah, ye’d like that wouldn’t ye?” A pirate shouted from the crowd to several nods of approval from other members of his house.

“I most certainly would not.” The spirit scolded. “I am Ignisia, Grand Master of the Order of the Sacred Flame. My order has been tasked with protecting the city from the Wintertodt since before the Ascent of Arceuus.”

Adam rested his head on his hands and watched Ignisia with fascination. _A pyromancer!_ He thought to himself.

Ignisia continued. “You all must listen to me. The sacred flames of the Bruma tree and the doors of Dihn forbid the beast from leaving its prison or using its ice magic on those outside. At this point and time, the Wintertodt is only capable of controlling our weather. These times will be difficult, but rest assured, the Wintertodt cannot hurt anyone directly.”

A familiar looking hooded pirate stood up from the crowd. “Nuts to the ice magic! The weather alone will kill us all! The houses be starving, our homes get blasted to pieces by the wind and even those whose homes remain intact still freeze to death in them! Our ships be unable to leave the harbour in this weather and the cold has caused the fish to hide on the seabed! We be marooned here with no food and no trade!”

Adam recognised the pirate right away. It was Ish, Lady Shauna Piscarilius’ navigator and right-hand man. A man who was born old and birthed from the salt of the sea. Adam looked around for Lady Shauna. She wasn’t there. In fact, Lord Hosidius was the only house leader present.

A roar started amongst the pirates and fishermen which soon spread to all members of the crowd.

Lord Hosidius stood up and banged on the table but the crowed refused to listen. “Order! Order!” He shouted at the crowd to no effect.

Suddenly, the doors to the beer hall swung open. The howling wind penetrated the room and the people stopped to turn toward the intruder.

A cloaked woman entered the room followed by two rough looking sailors in trench coats, they were carrying something wrapped in blankets. She removed her snow-covered cloak revealing a blue leather jerkin and fencing trousers. Her dark red hair was short and unladylike. You could hear the heels of her knee-high boots tapping along the wooden floors as she walked down the hall. She was a walking juxtaposition of authority and outlaw. The room was silent, terrified of her. She glanced at Adam as she passed, he winked at her, she disregarded him and proceeded to look directly into Logios’ menacing eyes.

“Lady Piscarilus!” Logios said with an bitter spit “A pleasure, to see you here on behalf of your people. I was beginning to worry the Lady had forgotten her duties.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything, Logios.” Shauna replied with a sneer. “The council will have to forgive my lateness, on my way over here I found something I thought you’d all like to see.” She gestured to the two sailors she came in with.

The sailors dropped the bundle of blankets they were carrying onto the table. Lady Piscarilius began removing the blankets. Lord Hosidius and the councilmen recoiled in horror when they saw what was underneath. Shauna pulled it to the ground to allow the crowd a better look, propping it sideways with her boot. The front row gasped. A woman started sobbing and ran up to the front and got down on the ground, holding the thing in her arms. Lady Piscarilius put her hand on the woman’s shoulder to comfort her.

Adam got up, trying to see above the crowd, he winced when he got a glimpse. It was the frozen corpse of a child! The boy’s face was frozen in horror and he was covered in icy blood. He didn’t just freeze to death, it looked like he was stabbed repeatedly and left in the snow.

Some Shayzien guards pulled screaming the woman to her feet and lead her away while offering her handkerchiefs. The woman tried to run back to the dead child but the guards held her back.

Taking a knife from her belt, Lady Piscarilius cut the boy’s shirt off his body. The shirt was half frozen and covered in blood and snow. It peeled off the boy’s skin like birch bark. “Look at this” She beckoned to the crowd and pointed the boy’s torso. “He’s covered in stab wounds, but they’re all differently sized. It couldn’t have been the same knife every time, if it was a knife at all.” She pointed to individual holes. Then she dug her finger deep into one of the wounds, much to the horror of the crying woman. Shauna pulled out a chunk of ice. It appeared to be carved to look like an arrowhead. “There’s over a dozen of these in him, all different sizes. Some kind of ice magic if I were to guess.”

There were gasps from the crowd.

Lady Shauna looked back to the terrified crowd and then to Logios. That was when she noticed the pyromancer beside floating him. “It’s the Wintertodt isn’t it?”

Logios narrowed his eyes. “Very observant.”

Lady Shauna stood up sharply. “It’s loose?!” She blurted. It was less of a question and more of a bark.

Ignisia approached Shauna. “No, the Wintertodt is not loose, but it seems that it has regained influence over the weather from within the prison. My order is attempting to find out what happened and is trying to stop it from getting worse.”

Shauna pointed to the boy’s corpse. “Weather doesn’t do that!” She snapped.

A murmur from the crowd began to rise. Adam watched from the back. He looked over at farmer Gricoller and his granddaughters. Their eyes were glued to the front, they looked just as horrified as everyone else.

Logios shook his head. “We have no reason to believe that the Wintertodt’s power outside the prison has reached the point where it could do something like this. There are however, certain ancient ice spells that produce a similar effect. Some crazed mage training in the catacombs could have done this. It’s surely unfortunate coincidence and nothing more.”

Lady Shauna grabbed Logios by the scarf and pulled him in close. If Logios had a nose, it would have been touching Shauna’s. Adam watched in awe, a funny feeling was coming over him as it often did when Shauna was around. He had never seen anyone do such a thing to an Arceuus spirit before.

“Don’t bullshit me!” Shauna shouted into the spirit scholar’s covered face. “Where’s Trobin Arceuus? This is another one of his experiments, isn’t it? You let it out!”

“Shauna!” Lord Hosidius snapped.

The glow of Logios’ eyes turned from green to a bright red as he glared at Lady Shauna. His scarf freed itself from Lady Shauna’s grip and Logios stood upright. The lights began to dim and the beer hall went dark. “How dare you accuse my house and Lord of treason?” Logios scolded as he began to rise above Shauna. It seemed as though the spirit was growing in size.

Shauna stood her ground, glaring up at the spirit. “Does the dark altar command it?” She snapped back with venom in every word.

Logios’ long body loomed over Shauna like a falcon over a rabbit. “You ignorant witch! Just think once before you speak please!” He demanded in the closest tone Adam had ever heard to an Arceuus spirit shouting. His stern voice boomed throughout the hall.

Terrified murmurs spread through the crowd. The murmurs soon enough turned into shouting and screaming. Between the rumble of the crowd, the violent argument between Logios and Lady Shauna, the screaming mother of the dead boy and the pounding of the table by Lord Hosidius, the entire room was in chaos. A Shayzien captain shouted as his men to keep at ease. The members of the council just sat there with their hands on their heads, horrified at the display.

Suddenly, the sharp sound of a teacup shattering against the stone wall of the beer hall cut through the chaos. Everyone stopped and turned to the back of the beer hall to face Kananga who was standing up from his stool, glaring at the crowd. Even Lady Shauna and Logios jumped from the noise.

Adam began to make his way up to the front. “Let me see the kid!” He demanded. Adam was breathing heavy, his large chest and shoulders raised and lowered with every breath.

Logios was the first to respond. “Who are you, sir?” He asked as he lowered himself and his eyes turned back to the normal green colour.

“Green Kananga of the Legends’ Guild! I’m an expert on lore and histories from all over the world. I was the one who rediscovered the ancient spells and I know a thing or two about them.” Adam said to the spirit and the crowd.

Logios narrowed his eyes. “Well, Green Kananga,” Logios replied in a polite manner. “I’m afraid the Legends' Guild is not recognized as a power in the Kingdom of Kourend. Please, return to your seat.”

Adam turned to Shauna. Lady Shauna shot Adam a death stare. A lesser man would have been sent running back to his seat under her gaze alone. Finally, Shauna let out an irritated sigh.

“Let him look at the child.” Shauna commanded Logios.

“I second that.” Lord Hosidius stated, raising his hand.

“Permitted!” Confirmed a spoiled looking member of the council.

“Glad to hear it!” Adam smirked. The room was quiet except for the whimpering of the boy’s mother and the howling winds outside. He proceeded to kneel beside the corpse and lifted the boy’s head from the floor. Adam shut his eyes tight and shuddered upon looking into the frozen face of the dead child. Then he put his hand to his head and said a quick prayer to Saradomin before opening his eyes to examine the wounds. There were deep stab wounds all over the boy. Just like Shauna said, they were all different sizes with varying depth.

Logios and Ingisia peered behind Adam.

“Well, it’s certainly not magic from the ancient spellbook.” Adam said to the council. “The Empty Lord was the god of control, using his spells requires perfection of form. There’s no such thing as a sloppy job in the ancient spellbook, that’s why they take nearly a master to pull off. Each individual laceration from an ancient ice spell would be exactly the same.” Adam pulled out a cigar and bit it as he spoke.

Shauna ripped the cigar from Adam’s mouth, shaking her head.

“Fascinating…” Replied Logios.

“That being said…” Adam continued. “Lady Shauna is still correct. It was some kind of ice magic that killed this child. And I think you know what it is.”

The crowd began to stir. They shouted and screamed, even some Shayzien soldiers fell to their knees in horror. There was chaos in the room.

Adam stood up and faced Ignisia and Logios. He then grabbed the cigar from Shauna’s hands and lit it up, ignoring the evil eye she shot him. “There’s no question about it. Whether you can explain it or not is irrelevant. The Wintertodt has returned!”


End file.
